Eisenhower's Mistake: A Tale of an Astonishing Letter to the Former German Chancellor

The first time I heard of Willy Wimmer was during the NATO "freedom through bombs" campaign in Serbia in 1999. "Never before so few lied so thoroughly to so many, as in connection with the Kosovo war", he famously observed. "People died for this". Wimmer, then a member of the Christian Democratic Union party in the German Bundestag, was referring to the organized media's attempt to convince the population of Germany that there was indeed a humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo, one that would necessitate a humanitarian intervention. The attempt was, as we know, all too successful.

NATO spokesman, Jamie Shea, said at the time that, "The political leaders played the decisive role with regard to public opinion". He was referring to German politicians, those " democratically elected representatives", who "knew which news was important for public opinion in their country. Rudolf Scharping did a really good job. It's not easy, particularly in Germany, whose population for 50 years had known only military defense, meaning the protection of their own country, to send German soldiers hundreds of miles away."

Explaining the difficulties that the new definition of security policy entailed, Shea commended "not only Minister Scharping, but also Chancellor Schröder and Minister Fischer" who all provided "an outstanding example of political leaders who don't just run behind public opinion, but know how to shape it."

Shea was probably at his cynical best when he described the reasons behind his optimism: "It makes me optimistic to see that the Germans have understood that. And despite the very unpleasant side effects, the collateral damage, and the long duration of the air raids, they stayed on course. If we had lost public support in Germany, we would have lost it throughout the alliance."

Among the many news items, which "were important for public opinion" in Germany, as readers of ZNet probably remember, was information, provided by Minister Sharping in April of 1999, that the Serbs have installed a Nazi-style concentration camp for few thousand Kosovo Albanians in the football stadium of Pristina, the capital of Kosovo. In his efforts to persuade the nation to "stay on course", comrade Minister Joschka Fischer, the ex radical German Foreign Minister, compared the Serbs to the Nazis, calling for military intervention with a crusader fervor: 'There must never be another Auschwitz!' I remember how we were, sitting in shelters and trying to ignore the buzz of humanitarian tomahawks around us, joking that in order for Germans to prevent the return of "Nazism" in a region that built it's identity on the fight against German Nazis in World War II, Fisher and Schroder had resort to a Nazi propaganda, not seen since 1945.

A few days ago I was reminded of Willy Wimmer, one of the few conservative German politicians arguing against the war in Kosovo (and criticized, by Frankfurter Alemagne Zeitung, predictably enough, as a "conspiracy theorist"). A well informed Serbian conservative weekly published a translation of the letter from Wimmer to the German Chancelor Schroder. The letter is a report from a conference held in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava, organized by the State Department and the American Enterprise Institute. The subject of this conference, attended by numerous prime ministers "from Baltic to Macedonia", was the Balkans and expansion of NATO.

Wimmer had heard many interesting things in Bratislava. For instance, that "Operation Horseshoe" - the plan allegedly conceived by the Serbs to drive the Albanian population out of Kosovo in 1999 - was a propaganda invention; that the purpose behind the Kosovo war was to enable the USA to correct an oversight of General Eisenhower's in the Second World War and to establish a US military presence in the Balkans with a view to controlling the strategically important peninsula. He heard a high ranking American official saying that the American aim was to draw a geo-political line from the Baltic Sea to Anatolia and to control this area as the Romans had once controlled it (one would suppose that American "mare nostrum", or "our sea", is not the Mediterranean, but the Atlantic). Wimmer had a distinct impression that everyone agreed (and could have cared less) about the fact that NATO humanitarian attacks are illegal under international law, and were done very deliberately, in order to establish the precedent for future "humanitarian" actions without a UN mandate.

One of the many interesting things about this letter is that Wimmer is by no means a leftist activist. Not even a left-leaning critic of "American imperialism". He was, at the time of writing the document, not only a defense policy spokesman of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), but also a Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Co-operation in Europe. After reading the published translation of the letter in the Yugoslav language, I have tried, not without some difficulties, to dig out the original. I have discovered that the document was published in the government journal Blätter fur deutsche und internationale Politik (2001 9, page 1059, 1060). The translation below, however, is of the text that I have found on the University of Kassel website (http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb5 /frieden/themen/NATO-Krieg/wimmer-rupp.html)

I thought that the readers of Znet interested in the nature of US politics in the Balkans, especially in the light of the recent Ahtisaari plan for independent- but- not-autonomous Kosovo, as well as those interested, more generally, in the nature of US foreign politics, could benefit from this rough translation, the quality for which I duly apologize.

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a conference in Bratislava, the Capitol of Slovakia, organized by the American State Department and American Enterprise Institute (Foreign Policy Institute of the Republican Party). The main subject of the meeting was the Balkans and the process of NATO enlargement.

The conference was attended by high political officials, as indicated by the presence of numerous regional prime ministers, as well as ministers of foreign politics and defense. Among the many important topics discussed, a few deserve special emphasis:

1. The organizers of the Conference (US State Department and American Enterprise Institute) demanded a speedy recognition of Kosovo, according to international law.

2. It was explained by the organizers that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia must be kept out of every rule - of - law organ, and especially out of the Helsinki accords.

3. European rule of law is a hindrance to NATO. The American system of law is therefore more suitable for Europe.

4. The war against Yugoslavia was fought to rectify an incorrect decision of General Eisenhower during World War II. In this manner, because of the strategic reasons demanding the stationing of US soldiers in this region, the faulty determination has been corrected,

5. The European allies took part in the war against Yugoslavia in order to, de facto, overcome the dilemma which presented itself after the acceptance of the "new strategic concept" of the Alliance in the April of 1999, and to overcome the inclination of the Europeans to secure a previous mandate of the UN or the Organization for European Security and Cooperation.

6. Europeans allies may legalistically reason that this war against Yugoslavia, which was outside the treaty's domain, was an exception. However, it is clear that this is a precedent, which they can and will call upon at any moment.

7. NATO should now fill the area between the Baltic and Anatolia, as it was filled by Roman forces during the height of the Roman Empire.

8. In addition, Poland must be surrounded from the north and the south by democratic neighbor states; Bulgaria and Romania should provide the territorial connection to Turkey; in the long run, Serbia must be kept out of European development (probably to further the safety of the American military presence).

9. North of Poland it is important to establish complete control of all access routes from St Petersburg to the Baltic Sea.

10. In each process, the right for people's self determination should be given priority before all other regulations or rules of the international law.

11. The statement that NATO's war against Yugoslavia was a violation of all relevant regulations and rules of international law did not encounter any opposition.

After this conference, where the discussion was very open and candid, we cannot avoid the long lasting importance of the conference conclusions, especially taking into account the professional rank and competence of its participants and organizers.

The American side seems to be conscious, that in order to pursue its interests, it needs to undermine the rule of law developed as a result of the two World Wars. Power must be above justice. Where international law stands in the way, it must be removed. When a similar development was embraced by the League of Nations, the Second World War was not far away. A way of thinking that puts self-interest in such an absolute position can not be called anything but totalitarian.

The guest list for the Conference:

April 28-30, 2000
Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Walter Andrusyszyn, deputy assistant secretary of state, U.S. State Department

Ronald Asmus, senior fellow, Council on Foreign Relations (Washington)

Hartmut Bäumer, chairman, Bridges Consulting Firm and member, German Green Party

John Bolton, senior vice president, American Enterprise Institute and former U.S. assistant secretary of state for international organizations (Washington)

Karlyn Bowman, resident fellow, American Enterprise Institute (Washington)

Martin Bruncko, director of foreign policy studies, Institute for Public Affairs (Bratislava)

Ian Brzezinski, professional staff member, U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Washington)

Peter Burian, ambassador to NATO, Slovak Republic

Erhard Busek, special representative, EU enlargement and coordinator, Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (Vienna)

Martin Bútora, ambassador to the United States, Slovak Republic

Bogdan Chireac, editor, Adevarul (Bucharest)

Robert Cooper, head of the defense and overseas secretariat, Cabinet Office, United Kingdom

Pavol Demeš, director for Central and Eastern Europe, German Marshall Fund of the United States (Bratislava)

James Denton, executive director, Freedom House (Washington)

Mikulás Dzurinda, Prime Minister, Slovak Republic

Steven Erlanger, bureau chief for Central Europe and the Balkans, New York Times

Mark Esper, professional staff member, Office of Senator Thompson (Washington)

Aleksandar Fatic, president, Management Center, (Belgrade)

Ján Figel, deputy foreign minister, Slovak Republic

Julie Finley, founder, U.S. Committee on NATO (Washington)

Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger, international editor, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Daniel Fried, U.S. ambassador to Poland

Sorin Frunzaverde, minister of defense, Romania

Curt Gasteyger, professor, Association for the Promotion and the Study of International Security (Geneva)

Jeffrey Gedmin, executive director, New Atlantic Initiative and resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute (Washington)

Dean Godson, chief editorial writer, Daily Telegraph (London)

Claus Gramckow, president, Hanseatic Institute (Washington)

Bratislav Grubacic, director and editor-in-chief, VIP News Services and Media Council (Belgrade)

Toomas Hendrik Ilves, minister of foreign affairs, Estonia

Douglas Hengel, deputy chief of mission, U.S. Embassy in Bratislava

Bruce Jackson, president, U.S. Committee on NATO and vice president of strategy and planning, Lockheed Martin (Washington)

Bianca Jagger, human rights activist (New York)

Géza Jeszenszky, ambassador to the United States, Republic of Hungary

Rastislav Kacer, director general, Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Jan Kavan, minister of foreign affairs, Czech Republic

John Kelly, special assistant, office of General Joseph W. Ralston, NATO (Brussels)

Jacques Klein, special representative of the UN Secretary General in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Sarajevo)

Karel Kovanda, ambassador to NATO, Czech Republic

Eduard Kukan, minister of foreign affairs, Slovak Republic

Herve Ladsous, French permanent representative to the OSCE

Oleg Levitin, visiting research fellow, Center for Defence Studies, King’s College (London)

Michal Lobkowicz, member of parliament, Czech Republic

Daniel Mariaschin, executive vice president, B’nai B’rith International (Washington)

Janos Martonyi, minister of foreign affairs, Republic of Hungary

Marek Matraszek, director, CEC Government Relations (Warsaw)

Victorino Matus, associate editor, Weekly Standard (Washington)

Sergiu Medar, director, Military Intelligence and Representation Directorate, Romania

Grigorij Meseznikov, president, Institute for Public Affairs (Bratislava)

Ivan Mikloš, deputy prime minister, Slovak Republic

Miroslav Mojzita, ambassador to Yugoslavia, Slovak Republic

Cameron Munter, director, U.S. National Security Council (Washington)

Joshua Muravchik, resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute (Washington)

Pauline Neville-Jones, governor, BBC and former political director, Foreign and CommonwealthOffice (London)

Joseph Novak, political and military officer, U.S. State Department

Michael Novak, George Frederick Jewett scholar in religion, philosophy, and public policy and director of social and political studies, American Enterprise Institute (Washington)

Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister, Republic of Hungary

John O’Sullivan, editorial page editor, National Post (Toronto) and founder, New Atlantic Initiative

Milan Pajevic, foreign policy adviser, G17 + (Belgrade)

Richard Perle, resident fellow, American Enterprise Institute (Washington)

Jozef Pivarci, state secretary, Slovak Ministry of Defense

Elizabeth Pond, transatlantic editor, Internationale Politik (Bonn)

Wolfgang Proissl, head of the foreign news desk, Financial Times Deutschland

Stephen Rademaker, professional staff member, House International Relations Committee (Washington)

Maris Riekstin, deputy minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Latvia

Peter Robinson, director, Trades Union Committee for European and Transatlantic Understanding (United Kingdom)

Allen H. Roth, executive director, New York State Research Council on Privatization (New York)

Dimitrij Rupel, minister of foreign affairs, Slovenia

Muhamed Sacirbey, ambassador of Bosnia-Herzegovina to the United Nations (New York)

Kori Schake, senior research professor and director, European Programs, National Defense University (Washington)

Frantisek Sebej, chairman of the Committee for European Integration, National Council, Slovak Republic

James Sherr, professor, Oxford University

Jeffrey Simon, research professor, National Defense University (Washington)

Thomas Skladony, senior program officer, National Endowment for Democracy (Washington)

Peter Sommer, vice president, The Boeing Company (Washington)

John Steele, legislative director, Office of Congressman David McIntosh

Jan Surotchak, director of donor services, Lehigh Valley Community Foundation (Allentown)

Reka Szemerkenyi, political state secretary, foreign policy and national security advisor, Office of the Prime Minister, Republic of Hungary

William Taft, partner, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson and former U.S. Ambassador to NATO (Washington)

Andrzej Towpik, ambassador to NATO, Republic of Poland

Vygaudas Usackas, deputy minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Lithuania

Magdalena Vasaryova, chair of the board of directors, Slovak Foreign Policy Association
(Bratislava)

Arno Visser, senior advisor, Office of Mr. Hans Dijkstal (Member of Parliament and leader of VVD Party, Netherlands)

Alexander Vondra, ambassador to the United States, Czech Republic

Michael Werz, professor, University of Hannover (Germany)

Alan Lee Williams, director, Atlantic Council (United Kingdom)

Willy Wimmer, member, German Bundestag and vice president, Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE; former state secretary, German Ministry of Defense

Miroslav Wlachowsky, director of policy planning, Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Bratislava)

Michael Zantovsky, chairman, Foreign and Defense Committee, Czech Senate

The Republican Party has gotten hijacked by globalist empire-builders who want another World War! Now e know why John Bolton was against them.

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